Kim Davis, the previous Kentucky clerk who violated the rights of a homosexual couple, has petitioned the Supreme Courtroom to revisit its landmark determination on same-sex marriage – slamming the ruling as a “authorized fiction.”
Davis, 59, served 5 days in jail in 2015 after she refused to concern a wedding license to homosexual couple David Ermold and David Moore shortly after the Supreme Courtroom legalized same-sex marriage nationwide within the Obergefell v. Hodges case.
The previous Rowan County, Ky., clerk was subsequently ordered to pay a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages and $260,000 in attorneys’ charges to the married couple.
She requested the excessive court docket – in a 90-page submitting final month – to assessment a decrease court docket’s 2022 discovering that she violated Ermold and Moore’s constitutional proper to marry and revisit its determination within the same-sex marriage case.
“If ever a case deserved assessment, the primary particular person who was thrown in jail post-Obergefell for looking for lodging for her spiritual beliefs ought to be it,” Liberty Counsel, the nonprofit legislation agency representing Davis, wrote within the petition.
“Davis was jailed, haled earlier than a jury, and now faces crippling financial damages based mostly on nothing greater than purported emotional misery,” the submitting continued, arguing that Davis was protected by her First Modification rights to freedom of speech and faith in denying the wedding licences.
The petition additionally asks the justices to contemplate “whether or not Obergefell v. Hodges … and the authorized fiction of substantive due course of, ought to be overturned.”
“Kim Davis’ case underscores why the US Supreme Courtroom ought to overturn the wrongly determined Obergefell v. Hodges opinion as a result of it threatens the spiritual liberty of People who consider that marriage is a sacred union between one man and one girl,” Mat Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, mentioned in a press release.
“Obergefell can’t simply push the First Modification apart to punish people for his or her beliefs about marriage,” Staver added. “The First Modification precludes making the selection between your religion and your livelihood.”
“The Excessive Courtroom now has the chance to lastly overturn this egregious opinion from 2015.”
William Powell, an lawyer for Ermold and Moore, advised The Put up that he’s “assured” the Supreme Courtroom gained’t take up Davis’ case.
“We’re assured the Supreme Courtroom, just like the court docket of appeals, will conclude that Davis’s arguments don’t advantage additional consideration,” Powell, who serves as senior counsel at Georgetown College’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Safety, mentioned in a press release.
“Marriage equality is settled legislation,” he added.
The Supreme Courtroom beforehand denied a 2020 petition from Davis to contemplate her enchantment.
